The suspect was identified on Wednesday as 29-year-old Chérif
Chekatt, a Strasbourg native.

Chekatt is believed to have opened fire on a local Christmas
market, using a handgun and knife, and ultimately killing three
people and injuring more than a dozen others.

French police on Thursday killed the suspected Strasbourg
Christmas market shooter, a spokesman for the Paris
prosecutor's office told media.

Ad

The suspect was identified on Wednesday as 29-year-old Chérif Chekatt, a Strasbourg
native. Chekatt is believed to have fatally gunned down three
people, injuring roughly a dozen others.

Police said Chekatt was armed with a handgun and a knife when he
opened fire on a Christmas market in Strasbourg on Tuesday. He
allegedly yelled "Allahu akbar" - Arabic for "God is great" - and
exchanged gunfire with security forces.

Paris prosecutor Rémy Heitz said Wednesday that Chekatt was
well-known to authorities before Tuesday's attack, and had racked
up 27 convictions across France, Germany, and Switzerland for
violent crimes and thefts.

"He had been incarcerated multiple times and was known to the
prison administration for his radicalization and his
proselytizing attitude," Heitz said, according to
The New York Times.

French security services had also flagged Chekatt on the
country's "Fiche S" or "S File" database, which lists some 20,000
people suspected of radicalization or posing a national-security
risk.

Earlier on Tuesday, police had attempted to arrest Chekatt as
part of an unrelated murder investigation, according to Laurent
Nuñez, the secretary of state for France's interior ministry.
Police even searched Chekatt's apartment and found a defensive
grenade, a rifle, ammunition, and knives.

But Nuñez said Chekatt evaded arrest that morning, and went on to
allegedly attack the Christmas market. Authorities have arrested
four people associated with Chekatt.